NCAA hockey: Shrewsbury's Edwin Shea on Boston College blue line

Friday

Mar 23, 2012 at 6:00 AMMar 24, 2012 at 11:15 AM

By John Conceison TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

After Boston College won its third straight Hockey East Tournament championship Saturday night, senior defenseman Edwin Shea of Shrewsbury and his Eagle teammates pretty much knew they were bound to open NCAA play in Worcester this weekend.

The only mystery was if the video montage introducing Sunday's selection show on ESPNU would include Shea. After all, his sister Tara, an editor at ESPN, put the video together.

“I saw my back, for half a second,” Shea said at BC earlier this week. “I saw my name, that's all that counts. Tara took care of me.”

And the show revealed that BC, ranked No. 1 in the nation and seeded first for the tournament, faces Atlantic Hockey champion Air Force at 4 p.m. tomorrow in a NCAA Northeast Regional semifinal at the DCU Center. Maine faces defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth at 7:30, with the winners squaring off at 8 p.m. Sunday for a berth in the Frozen Four April 2 and 4 in Tampa, Fla.

This is the 12th time since 1993 Worcester has hosted an NCAA hockey regional, and after this weekend, more NCAA Tournament games will have been played at the DCU Center than at any other building. The DCU and the Broadmoor World Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo., are tied at 39.

Shea and his senior class have a chance to win their second NCAA title, the first coming two years ago, when BC topped Alaska and Yale at the DCU, before easily beating Miami (Ohio) and Wisconsin in Detroit for the school's fourth national crown. Shea had four assists during that tournament, three in the DCU games.

“I've been blessed,” said Shea's mom Denise, who is planning a gathering for the BC parents at a nearby restaurant before tomorrow's game. “We want to go all the way to Tampa Bay. One national title, it's never enough. He's a senior, so I'm greedy now.”

Plus, the Eagles are hungry, especially after faltering in their title defense last year, in a stunning 8-4 loss to Colorado College in an NCAA West Regional first-round game in St. Louis.

This time, Shea is happy the road toward Tampa begins near home. Up to 30 relatives and friends may be on hand, including Colin Shea, a sophomore defenseman at the University of Massachusetts who played 10 games against his brother over the last two years, including the two-game Hockey East first-round series earlier this month.

“It's pretty cool — it's the last chance to make the Frozen Four from Worcester,” said Shea, a regular on the Eagle blue line since his sophomore year after playing 22 games as a freshman. “All the people you grew up with, even if they haven't been watching you, they see BC is playing in Worcester, and they'll want to come watching you, so you know you have those other followers. That's a pretty cool experience.”

Shea grins ear to ear while talking about his playing career at Boston College, where he has played for three Beanpot champions and three Hockey East champions to go with the 2010 national title.

“And I got to play twice in Fenway Park,” he added. “I couldn't ask for a better four years.”

Coach Jerry York, second on the all-time list with 909 career victories, has seen solid progression over the four years for Shea, who has seven assists and a plus-7 rating while playing all 40 games this season.

“He's had a great path with us,” said York, who has led BC teams to the NCAAs in 13 of the last 15 seasons, “coming in as a freshman and playing a bit, getting better as a sophomore, seeing more improvement as a junior, and now he's at the top of his game.”

“Eddie's solid, and he's reliable,” said BC captain Tommy Cross, Shea's roommate and defense partner. “He's consistent and doesn't give the other team much. He doesn't get beat, and he's strong in his own end.”

While the Eagles have impressive offensive defensemen in juniors Brian Dumoulin and Patch Alber, Shea provides a stay-at-home defender who has played a key role in the Eagles' current 15-game winning streak. Only once during this roll has BC allowed more than two goals in a game, with three shutouts.

“He's not going to have a wow factor to his game, but he's very, very steady,” York said. “His hockey sense, which was always good, is even better, and he is a really reliable player for us.”

While this is BC's longest winning streak in York's 18 seasons, Shea knows there's work to do to keep it going. “We can always get better,” said Shea, a marketing major who would like a shot at pro hockey, here or in Europe, after graduation. “We had a couple of defensive lapses (during the Hockey East Tournament) that we need to sharpen up on. And we have to do the little things right. Our success this season started coming when we were doing the little things right and not turning pucks over.”

No way does Shea want to end his college career at home. “No, I would not like that at all,” he said. “I'd like to go to sunny Tampa and play there.

“To end your senior season with a national championship, that would be pretty awesome. It would be unbelievable to go out on top.”